Looper-thread controller for sewing machines



L. ONDERDONK LOOPER THREAD CONTROLLER FOR SEWING MACHINES April 28,1925.

Filed Nov. 27, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet" l April'28, 1925. 1,535,942

L. ONDERDONK LOOPEB THREAD CONTROLLER FOR SEWING MACHINES Filed Nov. 27,1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Apr. 28, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LANSING ONDERYDONK, NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO UNION SPEOIE L MACHINECOMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

LOOPER-THREAD CONTROLLER FOR SEWING IMACHINES.

Application filed November 27, 1922. Serial No. 603,504.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LANSING ONDERDONK, a citizen of the United States,residing at New York, in the county of New York, State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Looper- ThreadControllers for'Sewing Machines, of which the following is adescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawing and to thefigures of reference marked thereon.

The invention relates to new and useful improvements in looper threadcontrollers for sewing machines, and more particularly to a threadcontroller for a looper mounted to oscillate in a horizontal plane.

an object of the invention is to provide a thread controller for alooper mechanism of the above type, which-thread controller is actuateddirectly from the looper and is given movements so as to take up slackduring the first part of the forward movement of the looper, give upslack to the looper after it enters the needle thread loop and while itis moving to the forward end of its stroke, again take up slack on thefirst part of the retractingmovement of the looper until the needle isWell into the looper thread loop, and then take up slack while thelooper is moving to the rear end of its stroke.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a bottom plan view of a portion of a sewingmachine embodying my improvements Fig. 2 is a top plan view of thelooper and the thread controller therefor;

Fig. 3 is a plan view showing the position of the parts when the looperis at the rear end of its stroke;

Fig. 1 is a similar view but with the looper at the point of enteringthe needle thread loop, and

Fig. 5 is a similar view but with the looper at the forward end of itsstroke.

The sewing machine to which my invention is applied-includes a worksupport 1 of the usual construction having an open-' ing 2 at the sideof the throat plate. Beneath the work support there is a bracket 3 inwhich is mounted a shaft 4 carrying a looper 5. The shaft 1 is providedwith a laterally projecting arm to which a link 6 is connected, and thislink 6 in turn is connected to a lever arm 7 pivoted at 8 to the underside of the work support 1. The lever arm 7 is oscillated by means of alink 9. As this link 9 is moved back and forth, the lever arm 7 and link6 move into and out of alinement, and thus impart oscillations to theloo-per giving an extended dwell to the looper while the same is at theforward end of its stroke. This looper mechanism per se, forms no partof the present invention, but is shown, described and claimed in myprior Patent No. 1,123,578, granted January 5, 1915.

The present invention is directed to a thread controller for thishorizontally moving looper which has an extended dwell at the forwardend of its stroke; controller consists ofan oscillating arm 10 pivotedat 11 to the work support. The looper carrier isprovided with alaterally projecting arm 12 which of course, oscil The thread lates withthe looper. A link 13 is pivoted at 14 to this laterally projecting arm12 and is pivoted at 15 to the oscillating thread controlling arm 10. Onthe outer end of the arm 10 there is a thread eye 16. Se

cured to the under part'of the work support 1 isa thread eye 17. Thisthread eye 17 is secured to the work support by means of a screw 18.Thelooper thread-is indicated, at Z and passes from the supply throughthe thread eye 17, thence through the thread eye 16. and to the looper.As clearly shown in Figures 3 and 4 the link 13 and arm 12 aresubstantially in alinement when the point of the looper is entering theneedle thread loop. Figure 5 shows the looper at the extreme forward endof its stroke and this arm and link have moved out of alinement andmoved the thread controlling arm 10 to the left of the position shown inFig. 2. As the looper retracts just as the point of the looper isleaving the needle thread loop, the link and arm again come intoalinement, and as the looper moves to the rearend of its stroke, the armand link move out of alinement as shown in Fig. 3, and again the threadco-nin Fig. 3 and moves toward the position shown in Fig. 4, the threadcontrolling arm will take up slack in the looper thread and thus avoidany slack thread forming in front of the looper which might buckle andcause the looper to miss the needle thread loop. As soon, however, asthe looper reaches the needle thread loop and starts to enter the same,the thread controlling arm ceases its slack take up movements and beginsto give up slack so that the looper has sufficient slack thread to moveto the forward end of its stroke without any undue strain on the looperthread. As the looper begins its retracting movement, the threadcontrolling arm moves toward the position shown in Fig. 4, and will takeup slack so that the looper thread is kept substantially taut until thepoint of the needle has well entered into the looper thread loop. Afterthe needle thread loop has been shed from the looper, then the slack inthe thread is taken up preparatory to the next forward movement of thelooper. 'It will be noted that the thread controlling arm is operatedfrom the looper, and only moves when the looper is i'noving, andtherefore, when the looper is at the forward end of its stroke and at adwell, the thread controlling arm will also be at a dwell. I haveprovided, therefore, a thread controlling mechanism which issubstantially idle when the looper is at a dwell, which receives all itsmove ments from the looper and which has two 1 slack take-up movementsto each complete oscillation of the looper.

It is obvious that minor changes in the details of construction and thearrangement of parts may be made without departing from the spirit ofthe invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters-Patent, is-

1. The combination with a looper carrier mounted to oscillate back andforth, a looper mounted in said carrier, means for impartingoscillations to said looper carrier and giving an extended dwell theretoat the forward end of the stroke of the looper, an arm projecting fromthe carrier, a thread controlling lever mounted at one side of thelooper to oscillate in a plane parallel with the plane of oscillation ofthe looper, a link connecting said thread controlling lever with the armof the looper carrier, said arm and link being so disposed as to moveinto alinement when the point of the looper is entering or leaving theneedle thread loop.

2. The combination with a looper mounted to oscillate back and forth inthe same path and in a horizontal plane, means for impartingoscillations to said looper and giving an extended dwell thereto at theforward end of its stroke, an arm projecting from the carrier for thelooper, a thread controlling lever mounted at one side of the looper tooscillate in a horizontal plane, a link connecting said threadcontrolling lever with the arm of the looper carrier, said arm and linkbeing so disposed as to move into alinement when the point of the looperis entering or leaving the needle thread loop.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signatu re.

LANSING ONDERDONK.

